We can’t wait for Sunday and the Streets Alive Festival in Evanston IL! Last year, we had a great time at the Green Living Festival in Evanston, but the idea of combining the two festivals is totally awesome!
We’ll be there with America’s premier reflectors for walking, running and bicycling and with information on how you can use reflectors for marketing your brand to touch hearts and save lives 🙂
The Streets Alive + Green Living Festival takes place on Main Street in Evanston, IL this coming Sunday, September 13th, 1-6 PM. A map of all the activities can be found on the festival’s website. Please look for the black funflector canopy in the Green Living Festival section between Ridge and Ashbury and stop by for some treats!
The funflector booth at the Evanston Green Living Festival 2014. This year we’ll have space for our full booth 🙂
We believe that making “green choices” is important for all people on earth, and having the choice of walking/biking instead of driving is part of that. However, walkable neighborhoods do a lot of good to people in terms of general health and building a sense of community. The philosophy of the Streets Alive is right up our alley: “Streets Alive also encourages the community to collectively reimagine and repurpose our precious public spaces. Although car-free streets are temporary, they help us visualize different ways to use these spaces, and they demonstrate the pent-up demand for permanently safe, complete streets and vibrant, people-oriented open spaces.”
The old world has come back to Chicago! The German Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza is open until Christmas and offers authentic German wooden and glass ornaments as well as Bratwurst, Pretzels, Strudels and Glühwein (mulled wine). See our blog post from last year about the Chicago Christkindlmarket.
Tomtar, wooden ornaments, books and funflector safety reflectors at Chicago Christkindlmarket 2013
For the second year, the Swedish American Museum also has a booth at the market and that’s where you go to get your Tomte fix. Tomte can be translated to gnome, elf, Santa, Father Christmas, nisse, Heinselmänchen depending on what language you prefer. Today, I volunteered in the booth and tried to count the “Cute!” (or “cuuute!”) but quickly lost track. The tomtar are all handmade in Sweden and come in many styles and sizes – and they are truly cute!
Gnome, Elf or Santa safety reflector – or tomte or nisse for Swedes and Danes
Traditional Angel chimes, modern moose or dalahorse chimes are available as well as wooden toys and books. Since most Swedes wear reflectors, the museum has teamed up with funflector.com to spread some Swedish safety culture and offers a wide variety of funflectors! There is even a tomte funflector! The Chicago Christkindlmarket is open every day from 11am to 8pm (to 9 on Fridays and Saturdays). The Swedish American Museum Booth is #52. located outside the main market, East of the Daley Center, close to the intersection of Randolph and Dearborn. Stop by next time you are downtown Chicago and say “Hi” from The funflector Blog!
Swedish American Museum Booth at the Christkindlmarket Chicago in 2012
In its native Sweden, H&M isn’t just a store for the latest fashion, it is also where parents get pretty good and inexpensive basic clothes for their kids. When I visit Sweden I usually get PJ’s (all cotton and no flame retardant chemicals) and outerwear (most with integrated reflective strips) and cotton socks. Sizes up to 180 (16 y) is a big bonus when your kids are tall!
Safety reflectors and reflective strips have been integrated in children’s outerwear for a long time, but what I found the other day is taking it a step (or two!) further. The entire fabric looked reflexive, so I had to take a photo with flash to see just how reflective it was.
Wow, look at this:
Same jackets without and with camera flash.
Had to buy this reflective jacket and can’t wait to get back to my Chicago suburbs and play around with them. Do you think drivers will be too scared to drive safely or relieved that they saw the pedestrian?
There is no Planet B. (duh!) Earth Hour (March 23rd at 8:30 pm) and Earth Day (April 22nd) are here soon to remind us to be careful with the only planet we have. However, it is not enough to be reminded, we also need to TAKE ACTION to leave a healthier planet behind for our children and for our grandchildren. As our followers know, we are all for walking and biking instead of driving, hanging out laundry to dry, reducing waste and recycling and more.
Superclean with just a cloth and water!
Here is another one, the ultimate no-brainer: With LESS effort, LESS time, LESS money and NO chemicals, you can get a cleaner house, office and car, a healthier family and a happier planet!!! Everyone is a winner: you, your wallet, your kids and the earth – can it get better? So, let me explain: With Norwex cloths you can clean your house, office, vehicle, windows, kitchen and bathroom – and your face! – with just water. It is not magic, just Scandinavian technology of incredible skinny polyester fiber (quality microfiber) that picks up everything – dirt, grime, grease, crumbs and dust without additional chemicals. Read more in the Norwex product catalog! So how can you get your hands on these amazing cloths? Here are three suggestions: 1. Buy them, either online or at my next party in Libertyville, IL (email info(at)funflector.com for dates and directions) 2. Get them for free!Book a real or online/catalog party. Introduce your friends to the amazing cloths and reap the rewards from the generous host gift program. As your consultant, I will guide you through and the online host portal will make it a breeze reaching out to friends and family near and far. 3. Earn an income on them! As a consultant you don’t only get free products, you also get a commission on every sale! Norwex has a figured out how to get you started with no startup cost! I did this a year ago and it’s been an amazing journey where each hour at work makes an impact in someone’s life! Be your own boss AND surround you with an inspirational team. Take action NOW – go green AND help yourself get more time for the things you love to do more than cleaning!
Take care, Elisabeth Hubbard Owner funflector.com & Norwex Independend Sales Consultant
Christkind is to German kids what Santa is to American. Christkind visits on Christmas day to put presents around the tree. Kids are kept away with closed doors to the living room until a little bell is heard. That means Christkind has finished its mission and the family can be let in to marvel at the pile under the tree. Christkind (“Christ Child”) has long golden hair and angelic wings and is a central part of opening ceremonies at many German Christmas markets, which are often called “Christkindlmarkt”. Here is a glimpse of the Nürnberg Christkindlesmarkt
Chicago has its own Christkindlmarket with tight ties to the Nürnberg one on which it is modeled. The opening ceremony (Nov 20, 2012, 4:30pm) often gets visits from the Nürnberg mayor and the previous Nürnberg Christkindl. This year, you can meet & greet the Christkindl on November 22, 11:00am, right after the Chicago Christmas parade. Being brought up with a mix of Swedish and German Christmas traditions, I love to go to the Christkindlmarket for some real German Bratvurst, Kartoffelpuffers and to look at the handcrafted ornaments that look just like those my grandmother had. Except for skyscrapers instead of small half-timbered houses surrounding the market, it does take me back to Germany for a little while. German vendors come all the way here just for this, which gives it an authentic flair. This year, there is a new section at the NE corner of the plaza. That is where you will find the booth of the Swedish Amercian Museum, filled with Swedish ornaments, handcrafted collectible tomten (Santas), Angel Chime rotary brass candle holders, wonderful wood toys for children, funflector® safety reflectors in fun shapes for kids and adults, and a wide assortment of Scandanavian books. Here are some pics from previous years:
Hot pretzels at Chicago Christkindlmarket – one of many culinary memories revived
Chicago Christkindlmarket – a genuine piece of the old world in a new world setting.
Handcrafted German wooden choir boys with typical curled wood trees and a chapel.
My own set of cherished wooden choir boys, probably bought by my Grandma in the 60’s.
Every Swede grows up with “There is no bad weather, only bad clothes”. If they don’t get it from their parents, they certainly hear it from teachers all the way from preschool and up. Since kids in preschools and elementary schools go outside every day, they are expected to have rain clothes, boots, snow pants, hats etc on hand all the time. Good gear for bad weather is a must. Active Kids Club wrote about “polar bear moms”, but it is not just moms carrying on this Scandinavian tradition, it is engraved in society.
Good (reflective!) outdoor gear for bad weather.
In other words, drizzling rain is not an excuse for not biking to school or work. So where do you find good gear for all weathers in the US?
When you live abroad with kids, how do you keep your heritage and language alive? In addition to speaking Swedish at home, attending Swedish School and SWEA events, we play a mix of Swedish rock, pop, jazz and classical music and songs for kids in the car. A few days ago, a friend who is a wonderful singer asked me to suggest some CD’s with Swedish songs to sing with her grandkids (age 3 and below) and I thought there might be others out there who’d like to know.
När dagen tagit slut och när nattskjortan är på… – from the song “Kaprifol” (Honeysuckle) of “Majas alfabetssånger”
So here are our personal favorites:
Majas Alfabetssånger – CD and Book Wonderful lyrics with creative and varied music to 26 songs about plants, one for each letter of the Swedish alphabet (almost). A wonderful way not only to share the language and music with kids, but also the love for nature that is so much a part of Swedish culture.
The Mamma Mu songs by Jujja and Tomas Wieslander make great entertainment for little quirky minds. Sing along in the car or at home. Get the packages with CD and booklet with suggestions for motions (“rörelsehäfte”) to go with the songs. The motions make it even more fun but they also help kids connect the words to body parts, motions and everyday toddler activities. “Min lilla kråksång” has the song about ants and moose clapping that I mentioned in the moose blog post last week.
Alice Babs did not just sing with Ulrik Neumann, Svend Asmussen, Charlie Norman and Duke Ellington, but also lent her versatile voice to enchant generations of Swedish kids with a number of records/CD’s. If you’d like a good singer along with the kid’s music, this is better than you can dream of. The much loved Alice Tegnér songs are available in a traditional version from 1963 (Sjung med oss, Mamma) and with a more modern twist from 2003 (Sjung med oss Mamma, vol II). Our favorite, however, is the “Hej du måne”, a collections of songs that take advantage of the range of Alice Babs’ mesmerizing voice. Those songs can be found on the second half of “Den olydiga ballongen” CD.
Lennart Hellsings’ Krakel Spektakel has been around for a while, but the songs are are still going strong. His books and tongue twister lyrics are fun to share and a great source for intriguing discussions with preschool kids. Do you remember “Sudda, sudda” or “Min Ponny” by Gullan Bornemark? She just keeps coming up with lyrics and music that kids love, so there are many, many recordings to choose between. The CD “Klang i Bygget” has mostly newer songs, but also some of the older favorites. The Real Group singing “Hösten hälsar på” is of course a treat. There is also one about moose 🙂 The CD also has tracks with the band but no vocals for those who want to sing along on their own.
Several of the CD’s are available at Amazon.com, but most seem to be out of stock right now. So you might want to pick them up in Sweden during your next trip or ask friends or relatives to send or bring them.
Kerstin Andeby, who composed the music to “Majas alfabetssånger” is now working with Peter Wanngren to create “Musik för barn”, about eight CD’s from Naxos with the 100 most loved children’s songs. Listen to a radio interview here (in Swedish). The two first are about to be released. Something to look out for during future visits to Sweden!
We are big fans of making our footprints on earth as small as possible. There is no planet B. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about harnessing the wind. So what more can you do?
Here is our second suggestion: Redefine “bargain”—add the life time of the product to the bargain hunting game. You’ll be surprised how many nice quality items you can buy and still save money over time! Let’s start with an example. While living in Europe, I used to buy a quality brand of indoor slippers. They would typically last for two years indoors and then be abused as back-yard slippers for another two years. After moving to the US, I bought the same brand of slippers, but a completely different model. At first, I was happy to find them at about half the price compared to Europe. However, after only one year of indoor use, they were ready for the land fill. Instead of leather, the materials were all man-made and were fraying everywhere. The straps had stretched, so the slippers did not stay on my feet any longer. So much for a bargain!
This is how much more it cost for four year’s use of “cheap” slippers:
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